Prudish Attitude About Drinking, No

Targeting Abuse, Si

September 9, 1986|By DOUGLAS PIKE, Orlando Sentinel

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- This is an ideal spot for toasting summer`s end and getting misty about one of the joys of summer (and of other seasons): drinking. I don`t mean the stylish stuff: Perrier water, soda water, punchless punches. This is a tribute to booze and to the out-of-vogue habit of having more than one or three.

A vacation can do naturally what drunken drivers, alcoholics and neo- Prohibitionists all fail to do: separate use from abuse. You can get tipsy at the hotel bar and then get an elevator -- and perhaps a bellhop -- to lift you to your room. Using taxis, you don`t endanger other folks no matter how dulled are your senses.

There`s a high-minded harangue that people should reach their pleasures naturally, not chemically. Well, to each her own. The high of running and the joy of bean sprouts never jolted me.

For millions of Americans, alcohol is a natural tool for pursuing happiness. Drinking creates a pleasant feeling that needs no further justification.

Texan Sam Rayburn, a speaker of the House of Representatives, put it (more or less) like this: ``Why be small when you can have two drinks and be big?`` Then there`s that higher stage that novelist Dan Jenkins described so nicely in Baja Oklahoma: ``bulletproof.``

Other ways to achieve relaxation, confidence and spontaneity are fine. Some of alcohol`s sensations can be had from Dale Carnegie or Arthur Murray, meditation or the latest thing from California. Backers of such non-chemical nirvanas gripe that a drinker`s sense of self-improvement is an illusion.

Well, so what? Some of us are never going to be good dancers, so the ``thinks-he-is`` level with Puerto Rican rum is fine.

``Attitude adjustment`` frees people to have fun. It helps Irish wakes be the celebrations of life that all such undertakings should be. It helps singles mingle. It helps motivate my family`s ragtag Dixieland band to strut our stuff along the sands of Vero Beach, Fla., every Christmas Day.

The right policy toward this dangerous wonder drug is to target abuse. Thus, most states still haven`t toughened penalties for drunken driving enough. The minimum penalty for a first offense should put the potential killer behind bars for a least a few days.

In England, for example, a drinker who drives risks up to four months in jail and a one-year loss of license.

Unfortunately, public outrage has slopped over into a loony effort to delay the inevitable need for a young person either to learn to drink responsibly -- or to make an individual choice not to drink. Putting the drinking age at 21 is a prime example. Fort Lauderdale`s effort to replace Spring Break`s boozing with sports competition is another.

Most people can learn to get ``bulletproof`` and know not to try driving faster than a speeding bullet. Cheers.